NASA experts will have a unique opportunity to obtain more knowledge about the sun, moon and Earth during the upcoming total solar eclipse.
On April 8, the moon will be positioned so that the entire disc of the sun will be blocked in 13 states, plunging millions of people into darkness during the early afternoon. The path of totality will start in Mexico and extend across Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before heading over the North Atlantic. Small parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total eclipse.
The spectacle is expected to draw travelers from around the nation as people head to areas in the path of totality to witness the eclipse. During a Tuesday press conference, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said the "awe-inspiring moment" will be a "very rare thing" that will give NASA a closer look at the three celestial bodies involved in the event.
"The thing that's so unique about a solar eclipse is it's an opportunity to look at three celestial bodies—the Earth, the moon and the sun—in entirely different ways than we usually do," Melroy said. "Our scientists are going to take full advantage of this celestial event to get invaluable data."
During the event, Melroy said, a focal point will be the sun's atmosphere, also called the corona—a "very elusive" region that can be viewed during the solar eclipse in a special way. By studying the corona, NASA experts will have a key to "understanding fundamental questions about how heat and energy are transferred out into the solar wind, which contributes to our understanding not just of solar dynamics but also how solar flares and the solar wind will affect life here on earth."
She continued: "Things are happening with the corona that we don't fully understand, and the eclipse gives us a unique opportunity to collect data that may give insights into the future of our star. It just so happens that we're at solar maximum, so the chance we will see something amazing is very high."
Solar maximum is the peak solar activity in the sun's 11-year cycle.
Melroy told Newsweek that the upcoming eclipse differs from the one that occurred in 2017.
"As much as we learned during 2017's solar eclipse, we expect 2024 to show us even more. Totality lasts longer during this year's eclipse than it did in 2017, giving our instruments time to collect more data," Melroy told Newsweek. "The path of this eclipse passes over more people—which means more citizen scientists to contribute data for NASA projects. And, our technology is better across the board—meaning more precise data from our science instruments on planes, rockets, and the ground."
In addition to examining the sun, NASA will study how the eclipse affects Earth's atmosphere, specifically the ionosphere, which "acts as a conduit for many communication and navigation signals," according to Melroy. By studying the effects on the ionosphere, NASA experts may be able to predict and mitigate potential disruptions to technology in the future.
Although only 13 states will be in the path of totality, every state in the contiguous U.S. will be able to see some form of the eclipse, with only small parts of Hawaii and Alaska missing out. The last total solar eclipse in the U.S. was on August 21, 2017, and the next one will not occur in North America until 2044.
Update 03/27/2024, 10:48 a.m. Eastern Time: This article was updated to include comment from Pam Melroy.
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